


Fire and Powder

by Jay_Crow



Series: Sander Statements [4]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series), The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Animal Death, Arson, Character Death, Fire, Grief/Mourning, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:49:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21735562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jay_Crow/pseuds/Jay_Crow
Summary: Statement of Roman Flanagan, regarding his boyfriend’s death. Statement given 30 July 2012. Audio recording by Thomas Sanders, Collections Overseer of the Usher Foundation.
Relationships: Roman Sanders/OMC
Series: Sander Statements [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1473734
Kudos: 13





	Fire and Powder

**Author's Note:**

> So... it's been about 3 months since I last updated. Whoops? Sorry about that, I was on a gap year program where I didn't have an abundance of free time.  
> However! I am nearly finished with this series. I just have to get Remus' finished.  
> Title is from Romeo and Juliet, because Roman is a theatre nerd as we all know. And Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy, which I found appropriate ;)
> 
> Content warnings: Fire, death of a loved one, animal death, loss of one's home

You need to understand, what happened to Liam wasn’t an accident. I don’t care what the police and the news say. I don’t… I don’t think it’s my fault. How could it be? Maybe if I was home more, then… That doesn’t matter. What does matter is that what they’re saying can’t be true!   
You see, I travel around a lot. I’m an actor with a pretty successful theatre troupe, so we tend to be on the road a lot. Liam never really got used to that. He always said it was lonely when it was just him in the apartment. I did what I could to be around, but… there was always another show somewhere across the country, and the show must go on. No matter what toll it might take on your interpersonal relationships. We’d actually gotten a dog a few months before I had to leave again. Liam works - worked, from home, so there wasn’t any chance of it not getting enough care and attention. We both loved that dog like a child. Her name was Ophelia, Ophie for short. She was an adorable fluffy little mutt. We were both enchanted with her from the time we first set eyes on her in the shelter.   
Eventually, of course, I had to hit the road again. This time, I was headed off to London, all the way across the Atlantic. A long way, but nothing I hadn’t traveled before. I packed my bags, kissed my boyfriend of three years on the cheek, scratched Ophie behind the ear, and left. I got in the cab, and I didn’t look back as it drove away. I wish more than anything that I had, just to get one last glimpse of the family I’d made.   
When I got to the airport, it was unreasonably hot. It was the beginning of November, so it was a bit chilly, but not enough to warrant that. I was sweating through my clothes by the time I got into the line for customs. I stepped up to the booth, making eye contact with the officer. I knew something was off as soon as I did that. It felt like his eyes were burning straight through me, incinerating me from the inside out. He smiled like a cat with a mouse. Then, he slipped right back into professionalism. The strange heat was gone. I tried to convince myself that I was just anxious for the flight, that I was seeing things, jumping at shadows. But I couldn’t quite forget that searing gaze. He asked the standard questions that they always ask, like how long you’ll be gone, where you’ll be, that sort of thing. Then, he asked if I had anyone waiting for me at home. I said, yes, I have a partner. Then he asked,  
“How much do you love him?”  
I stood there, shocked for a second, before I answered.  
“More than I can bear.” I said. The words burned as I spoke them, like fire in my lungs. My throat felt scorched after I said them. He gave that predator’s grin again, before telling me to have a safe trip. I left in a daze. I made it onto my plane somehow, where I did my best to tell myself that nothing unusual at all had happened, that Liam would be perfectly safe when I got home. That the life we’d built together would be whole. But that wasn’t to be.   
I returned to the smoldering wreckage of what had once been our apartment building. They hadn’t been able to recover anything from the rubble; no pictures, no keepsakes. Liam was gone. They’d found his body curled around Ophie’s, like he was trying to protect her. I know it doesn’t make sense, I know, but I’m sure that officer had something to do with it. No one will believe me. They all think I’m just grieving, trying to blame something, anything. The police said it was an accident but I just can’t believe that. I just can’t. Liam didn’t even smoke. How could a cigarette start the fire?  
Statement ends.  
Supplemental: Mr. Flanagan’s story is well-documented in several newspapers about the apartment fire. All the articles mention what a miracle it was that there was only one casualty. I can’t help but think that Mr. Flanagan doesn’t find that comforting. Regarding the customs officer he mentioned, a… friend of mine, who is good with computers, managed to get access to security camera footage from the day of Mr. Flanagan’s flight. There are no records of the customs officer he claims to have spoken to in the employment database. But as they talk, you can see faint wisps of smoke coming off Mr. Flanagan’s jacket.   
End recording.


End file.
